


Restitution

by Mab (Mab_Browne)



Category: Hyakujitsu no Bara | Maiden Rose
Genre: Ficlet, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Nonnies Made Me Do It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 05:51:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19350787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mab_Browne/pseuds/Mab
Summary: The casualty losses are appalling. Taki knows why, and he takes it hard.





	Restitution

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for um, depressing implications? The prompt I wrote to was 'human sacrifice' and this is certainly that one way or the other.

The casualty reports are appalling, and the mood in the residence is wretchedly depressed. Nobody has slept for the best part of two days. No, that’s not quite true. Klaus is dozing, unneeded for now, and pretty much unregarded, precariously balanced in his chair. He was brave, resourceful, obedient even, in battle, to no use at all.

Suguri is probably dead on his feet in the infirmary or one of the carriages evacuating wounded. At least he’s not dead on the roiled earth, like too many of Taki’s brigade. The rest of the men there, Hasebe, Uemura, the aides, they all avoid his eyes. He knows why.

He excuses himself, a moment only, and seeks the privacy of his rooms. They’ll be his for only a little while longer – quite aside from the fact that the winter residence is much closer to the front now than it was.

He has abandoned and betrayed everything: honor, faith, his lineage, his gods, the people in his trust. All of them – his soldiers, his family, his domain. Klaus too; he reached for a selfish dream, and then lacked the courage to fully grasp his stolen treasure. Fitting that it was the first thing tarnished by shame and failure, although hardly the last.

He grips the hilt of his sword. Now is not the time. But there will come a time soon, for restitution. He will make things right the only way he can.


End file.
